rat race


noun Informal.

any exhausting, unremitting, and usually competitive activity or routine, especially a pressured urban working life spent trying to get ahead with little time left for leisure, contemplation, etc.

Origin of rat race

An Americanism dating back to 1935–40

British Dictionary definitions for rat race

rat race

noun

a continual routine of hectic competitive activity working in the City is a real rat race

Idioms and Phrases with rat race

rat race

Fierce competition to maintain or improve one's position in the workplace or social life. For example, You may not realize what a rat race it is to get research grants. This term presumably alludes to the rat's desperate struggle for survival. [Colloquial; first half of 1900s]